Running into summer

Ah, the first summer holiday.

I had a few options for what I wanted to do on Memorial Day, but I decided it would be a good day to try out a new trail. I had heard of the Kenney Creek Trail and how it was lightly trafficked. That honestly scared me a little bit--what if something bad happened to me and no one was around?--so I thought a high-traffic day would be a good time to try it out.

Unfortunately, the trailhead is past where you have to pay to enter Mueller Park. But since I'm a good citizen without a sense of entitlement, I dutifully paid the fee, even if I found it a little silly to do so.

 I'm glad I went on the trail, but I don't have a great need to go back anytime soon. It was quite difficult. The trail leads to an old miner's cabin, which is where I stopped and turned around. To get there, you climb 2,200 feet in about 2.3 miles. By comparison, to get to Elephant Rock you climb 1,000 feet in 3.25 miles. I technically ran up the entire thing, but I did lots and lots of stopping, so I don't know if it counted as a run. I did still pass several groups of hikers, though, so that counts for something. Not only was it steep, but it was pretty overgrown, so I got some scratches on my legs, and coming down especially, it made it difficult to see roots and rocks. This was one of those trails where it was slow going up because it was strenuous, but it was slow coming down because it was dangerous. There were also lots of open spaces in the sunlight. I feel like other trails around here are easier, prettier, and cheaper, so this won't be one of my regular trails.

A small stream

I was way above Elephant Rock.

Here's what's left of the miner's cabin. 

The window is really low to the ground, so I'm surprised how much it's already been buried.

It's hard to see, but there's a random fenced area about a mile up the trail near the little stream.

On my way up to the trail, I had to walk past some houses before the canyon, and there was a cat with a collar roaming around the cars. I had to put my hand out so I could pet it, since I'm pathetic like that. Most cats, including mine, just walk away, but that one meowed adorably and let me pet it. Aww! But I didn't take a picture, because I feel weird photographing strangers' pets. Earlier that day, my dad and I were changing a car battery, and Jenny, our cat, came up and started meowing and standing up against the car, like she wanted to see what was going on.

I ended the week with another new running experience. For my bucket list for the patriotic season (between Memorial Day and Independence Day), I wanted to run a race. I've been looking at various options, and I happened to find that Centerville was doing a free trail 5k and 10k. I've never done a 10k race before, though I run that distance frequently. So I decided to go! I didn't take any pictures, because I was racing. It went up by Viewmont's V. Really, I wasn't too impressed with the trail; it was mostly open grassland with little shade, though I did enjoy seeing all the sego lilies. This race confirmed my suspicions: while I am a good trail runner among average people, I'm pretty bad among other trail runners. I came in dead last--but part of that's because I got a little confused by all the intersecting trails, and I got a little lost. I went 6.75 miles instead of 6.2. I would have beaten a few people if I hadn't been lost. But what puzzles me is that the places where I got passed the most were downhill. When I run uphill, I feel like I could go faster if I had the stamina (I am generally a very slow runner). But when I run downhill, I don't feel like I can go faster without risking twisting my ankle or tripping on rocks and roots. So how can others go faster than me going down? And some of those who passed me going down had to walk up a steep hill, where I could run up it. Oh well. It was a very low-key "race," with no prizes, finisher's medals, or even those number bibs. But I did get a donut with red, white, and blue sprinkles!